Cuba ...what's good?

[Beathoven]

any info on the usual ....record spots, eats (I hear bad things), bars, live music etc

Gonna be in Havana & Trinidad.

Thanks in advance

 

[ladyday]

Beathoven said:eats (I hear bad things)




Sorry that I can't prove otherwise, but being of Cuban heritage I find this extremely hard to believe.

 

[CBear]

I liked the food in Cuba, but I live off of rice and beans at home too. My best advice would be to get out of Havana as much as possible. It was my least favorite city. I took a train across the length and stopped in quite a few different cities. Havana seemed to have the most despair, crime, prostitution, greed, etc. In other cities, I found the people to be much more inviting, interested in who you were and why you are visiting their country. I suppose for me it's like any country. All big cities seem to be the same, and the better cultural experiences are found in the smaller cities or rural areas.

 

[resk]

I hear the food is bad, but this is from cuban americans visiting family in cuba (i live in miami). This is because the limited food supply given to cubans on the island. It may be different for tourist who are eating at cuban restaurants, rather then someone's home.





Cuban americans will tell me cuban food is better here in miami than in cuba.

 

[DOR]

I had an awesome time in Cuba. But without a doubt, the food was not... I don't put it down to actual Cuban cooking. But squarely due to the embargo on the Island. If you go there looking for a liquid diet though, you will live like a King.





But over all, great time and the people are amazing.

 

[Beathoven]

OK well rice & beans is good for me ....any non food related spots I need to be checkin?





I hear record shops are state run & they had a state record label like Poland used to be?





I've been told about some dude who picked up a lot of nice jazz records when he was there ....but that is all I know ...who knows more?

 

[rootlesscosmo]

The food *is* bad. it's not cause they can't cook; it's because there's just not much in the way of ingredients available to the average Cuban (fucked economy- and rations-related). Best food I had on the island was the little pulled pork sliders right off the whole pig spit from from a street vendor, though these are hard to find. Don't expect Miami-level delicious Cuban food in Cuba.





That said, the people are amazing. I must say I've never traveled in a country where the locals were so enthused to meet/talk with Americans (not sure if you're American). I was pleasantly surprised.





What I did was rent a car and drive around the island. I picked up hitchhikers, stopped at random tobbacco farms, got a ticket. I had farmers flag me down, invite me into their shacks, and pull out home-made rum and hand-rolled cigars.





Great trip.





(Though as a Yanqui, I had money issues. Credit cards leave a paper trail, and ATMs -- to the extent that you can find one -- don't work for our bank accounts on account of the embargo. I was basically rolling around for a month with a wad of US bills. Kinda sketchy, but there's no better country to do it in as Cuba is among the safest countries in the world for tourists.)

 

[Cosmo]

Food wasn't THAT bad, but definitely not the highlight of my several trips down there. And Ben is dead on because of the lack of resources.





B/W





There's a lot of pizza. Everyone eats pizza. And I once got a slice of pizza w/ a roach that was cooked into the cheese.





Okay, the food is pretty fucking bad.